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CHAPTER V 
SOCIAL CONSERVATION 
Tae PERSISTENCE OF Social CIRCLES! 
OCTAL groups, once formed, have a tendency to per- 
S sist. This persistence of the group unity results from 
the permanence of the interactions between the group 
elements and manifests itself in the continuity of the life 
of the group. This permanent coherence between the com- 
posing elements suggests the existence of a special vital 
force. 
But an understanding of the life-process of the group 
requires more than the mere assumption of the existence 
of a vital force. Upon further analysis, the apparently uni- 
fied force appears to consist of a great many separate and 
distinct processes of interaction. The apparently unitary 
process of social self-preservation must therefore be ana- 
lyzed and resolved into the actual primary processes. 
These primary processes will by no means prove to be con- 
servative processes only. At all times there are destruc- 
tive forces which menace the persistence of the group both 
from within and from without. If these could operate un- 
hampered, the group unity would soon be destroyed. But, 
apart from these destructive forces, there are conserva- 
tive tendencies which produce permanent interactions be- 
tween the elements and thereby maintain the group unity. 
This unity persists for a longer or shorter time, until it 
yields at last to the disintegrating forces. 
The group appears to have a life of its own relatively 
! Adapted from Soz., chap. viii, pp. 494-613. 
163